#lilsjames

Hi there! 💙 Sorry for the late answer, I was busy with exams and submitting final assignments and am just really sleep-deprived in general. And it’s really hard for me to choose just one! We have his beautiful outfit as a Jurchen leader with all that beautiful royal blue and fur, then we’ve got the soft pastels (I’m partial to his very light pink outfit when he helped Hwi apply for the exam), his armor, his inspector uniform, that auburn outfit that seems to be a variation of his inspector uniform… we also can’t forget his most important costume accessory, which is being covered in blood!

But if I had to absolutely choose… then I think it would be his training outfits. The blue black-patterned one in the beginning and the lavender red-shimmering one. There was just something very special about the latter. For better visualization I made a gifset for that outfit, which you can see here.

I like that it acts as foreshadowing for the brutal exam fight (it’s lavender like his exam outfit later on, and the red sheen looks very much like blood, hinting at how his arm wound will be reopened and stain his robes at the exam). I like that it’s part of his gradual loss of innocence within the narrative, being stained more and more until he finally accepts it and says “from this day on all blood will be on my hands” in the Kangmujang. Since it’s a shade of purple too (the Nam color, as explained in my color meta), it just ties a lot of threads together, which I think is neat.

Thank you for sending this ask! :D

oh, yes, there are definitely many hand references!

Gwaine shrugged. 'What can I say, Merlin clearly has healing hands.'

As Elyan smirked, Percival looked up. 'I suppose the two of you would know all about that.'

Self-consciously, Lancelot buried his face in the side of Gwaine’s neck as the latter struggled to make a comeback. 'And you two would—Damn it, why can I not think of anything?' He pointed at Percival. 'This is your fault. You know any mention of Lance or Merlin in that context leaves my head emptier than it already is.'

so it's more than a sentence but...oh well. this is from my primary wip (the merwaincelot fluff that's had excerpts floating around and will eventually be finished) and there are 20 references to hands so far. what can i say, i like the idea of the three of them holding hands

In the sunlight, his servant's skin was set alight all over again, igniting the room with agonising glares, but in the secrecy of the silver water that flooded his chambers at night, Arthur had seen him shimmer like the scars on the king's own body, limbs flickering like belts of constellations. Arthur had reached out, countless times, to dip his fingers in the channels of light stretched across Merlin's form, but had always snatched his hand away at the crucial moment.

this second one (i thought i'd throw it in because why not) is from the next chapter of my merthur canon divergence fic The Hearts of Men which has not been touched since november...it's fine, i'll get there

thank you for the ask 💞

oh oh oh! thank you for the ask (and for this pairing!) 💜

29. one headcanon that breaks your heart

that when morgana disappeared after s2 she spent some time in nemeth and she and mithian did get together but then morgana left again, not seeing mithian again until s5 when she invaded with odin and was a completely different person...

30. one headcanon that mends it

that they were childhood friends and had a lot of fun learning how to fight alongside each other and exploring nemeth and basically being a nuisance to everyone they come across but not caring because they have each other (until gorlois dies)

(this is basically the plot of part of roots in my dreamland whoops)

oooh, thank you for the ask! 💜 i think it is probably in 4×02, where lancelot wakes up and merlin is fishing...i just love the part where merlin gives him the stick because he looks like he's going to fall over and lance takes a playful swipe at him with it, it's just so wholesome.